Concerned Women for America

Concerned Women for America (CWA) is a conservative women's organization that describes its goal as "helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy."[1]Mother Jones describes CWA as "a conservative anti-feminist operation,"[2] while the Southern Poverty Law Center identified CWA as one of the most influential anti-gay groups in the United States.[3]

CWA describes its mission as "to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens -- first through prayer, then education, and finally by influencing our society -- thereby reversing the decline in moral values in our nation."[1] According to its website, CWA focuses on seven core issues, which it lists as "sanctity of life," "defense of family," "education," "religious liberty," "national sovereignty," "sexual exploitation," and "support for Israel."[5]

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The Koch network was one of the biggest political operations in 2012 and worked largely outside the campaign finance system, raising at least $407 million. Source: Robert Maguire with the Center for Responsive Politics.

CWA was part of the Koch brothers' $400 million network in the 2012 election cycle.[6] It has received substantial funding from the Koch donor network in recent years. The Kochs' Freedom Partners gave CWA $8.15 million in 2012, and the Center to Protect Patient Rights gave donations totaling $1,678,073 to CWA between 2010 and 2012. DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund to which the Kochs contribute, reported a $70,000 grant to CWA in 2010.

News and Controversies

Ties to Russian Anti-LGBT Law

CWA has been a co-sponsor of the World Congress of Families (WCF) since 1999, according to its own press releases.[7] The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies WCF as an anti-LGBT hate group,[8] and a detailed 2014 report by Mother Jones has described how "WCF has lent its support to anti-gay politics elsewhere in Eastern Europe -- Serbia, Lithuania, Romania -- but it has had its biggest and most notable successes in Russia."[9]

In 2013, Russia passed a federal law banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientations" that has been widely criticized for spurring discrimination and violence against LGBT Russians.[10][11] In February 2014, CWA senior fellow Janice Shaw Crouch expressed support for Russia's policies at a press conference, saying, "I hope that the United States will learn some lessons, quite frankly, from Russia."[12]

CWA only withdrew from a planned 2014 WCF conference in Moscow after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in March 2014.[13]

Involvement in Elections

CWA's PAC, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, has reported several hundred thousand dollars in spending to the FEC in the past several election cycles. However, CWA itself has also been politically active as a "dark money" nonprofit, not required to disclose its donors or its spending on so-called "issue ads" during election cycles. Thus its total spending on political activities during a given election cycle can be much higher than the amount reported by its PAC.

2014 Election Cycle

As of July 2014, CWA's PAC had reported $117,322 in spending to the FEC for the 2014 election cycle.[14]

North Carolina

CWA endorsed Baptist preacher Mark Harris in the North Carolina Republican Senate primary. Harris tweeted that he was "honored" to receive the endorsement,[15] prompting LGBT rights group Equality NC to respond that "any endorsement from, and praise for, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group -- citing anti-LGBT statements equating homosexuality with pedophilia and accusations 'homosexual activists' fabricate hate crime reports -- should make North Carolinians reconsider their vote."[16]

In May 2014, Harris lost the primary to Thom Tillis, who faced incumbent Kay Hagan for North Carolina's Senate seat in November 2014.[17]

2012 Election Cycle

In the 2012 cycle, CWA's PAC reported a total of $295,516 in spending to the FEC. The bulk of the spending, according to CWA's filings, went to "fundraising" (70 percent) and "administrative" (29 percent) expenses.[18] According to the Washington Post, CWA organized a get-out-the-vote campaign for conservative Christian women.[6]

CWA Spends $6M on Anti-ACA Ads in Battleground States

"Care"

CWA spent $6 million on television ads attacking the Affordable Care Act. One 60-second ad, titled "Care," began running June 20, 2012 and ran in Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin.[20]Mother Jones described the ad buy as "unusually large" for the group, noting that $6 million "vastly exceed[ed] the action committee's entire budget from the past several years."[2]

As described by the Huffington Post, the ad "warn[ed] that the White House-backed health care law might limit patient care and increase the federal deficit."[21]

CWA has received $80,100 from DonorsTrust in 2007 and 2010.[22]DonorsTrust is considered a "donor-advised fund," which means that it divides its funds into separate accounts for individual donors, who then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. Funds like DonorsTrust are not uncommon in the non-profit sector, but they do cloak the identity of the original donors because the funds are typically distributed in the name of DonorsTrust rather than the original donors.[24] Many DonorsTrust funders have ties to the Koch brothers.[25]

CWA has also received $30,000 from the Bill and Berniece Grewcock Foundation from 1998-2003,[22][26] $30,000 from Free Enterprise America in 2011, $14,500 from the National Christian Foundation in 2012, $2,000 from the Deramus Foundation in 2011, and $2,000 from the Lynn & Foster Friess Family Foundation in 2002 and 2003.[22]